Don't Fear the Reaper
Yesterday I fell into a conversation with a young neighbour who was worried he’d never get a job in journalism because AI would render the role obsolete. I responded with a phrase I’ve used many times before: AIのことで本当に心配しなくてはいけないのは、考えることをやめたい人たちだけなんだよ。 The only people who need to worry about AI are the people who don’t want to think.
While it’s true that the marketing hype around AI has a lot of people believing there will soon be nothing left for humans to do, what many forget is that AI needs something to work from. It can only remix what already exists. Tools like ChatGPT and DeepSeek are being used by journalists to help draft and refine articles, but journalism is more than just putting words on a page. It’s about curiosity, investigation, ethics, and truth—things that cannot be manufactured by machines.
My Japanese was probably not nuanced enough to communicate all of this, but the young man seemed to understand the intent. And that’s what matters.
I don’t often get the chance to speak with young adults anymore, but when I do, I’m often surprised by how bleak their outlook on the future can be. When I was in my late teens, I couldn’t wait to get out into the world. The Internet was still new, and the Y2K problem gave young developers like me an opportunity to revisit the decisions of the past while building something better for the future. In my imagination, there’d be a Porsche in the driveway of my ten-bedroom summer home on the shores of Lake Ontario by the time I turned 30. That never happened—and never will—but the ambition was there.
Today’s young people have grown up hearing very different stories: that we’re going to run out of food, that climate change will destroy the planet, that the polar ice caps will melt and submerge entire countries, and that their taxes will be unbearably high to support a growing population too old to work but too young to die. And now, on top of all that, comes AI.
It’s no wonder people are depressed and demotivated. The half-truths and no-truths we hear in the news, in school, and online offer very little hope. But why does it have to be this way?
Yes, AI will replace a number of jobs—just like the steam engine did. Just like the loom did. People who’ve spent their lives in certain professions will be uncomfortable for a time as they adjust to something new. It will be difficult. But it can also be a rare opportunity. Many of us—myself included—get stuck in a rut, doing the same thing day after day, year after year. Looking back on my time in education, I can see now how much tunnel vision that stability encouraged.
There have certainly been some very low days since leaving the safety of a day-to-day job, but overall, this period has been an opportunity to reassess what I can offer the world. Whether or not any of it will pay the bills remains to be seen, but the discomfort has led to growth.
Young people—and everyone, really—needn’t fear AI. Disruption is coming, yes. Some people will lose stable employment, yes. But just like the tools of the Industrial Revolution, AI can help us accomplish more with less. The genie is out of the bottle, and there’s little chance of putting it back. So our best option is to learn how to work with these systems.
Those who learn and adapt the fastest will be the ones leading the way—and everyone else can benefit by following close behind.